PRESLE, Micheline

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Nationality: French. Born: Micheline Chassagne in Paris, 22 August 1922; known in the United States as Micheline Prelle. Education: Attended a convent school. Family: Married the actor William Marshall. Career: 1938—film debut in Je chante; successful leading roles followed; 1946—international success with Gérard Philipe in Le Diable au corps; 1950–51—made several American films; also acted on stage and television. Address: 6 rue Antoine-Dubois, Paris 75006, France.

Films as Actress:

(as Micheline Michel)

1938

Je chante (Stengel); Petite peste (de Limur); Sais seule que j'aime (Fescourt)

(as Micheline Presle)

1939

Jeunes filles en détresse (Pabst) (as Jacqueline Presle)

1940

Le Paradis perdu (Four Flights to Love) (Gance) (as mother and daughter); Fausse alerte (The French Way) (de Baroncelli) (as Claire Ancelot); Elles étaient 12 femmes(Lacombe) (as Lucie); Parade en 7 nuits (Marc Allégret)

1941

Historie de rire (Foolish Husbands) (L'Herbier) (as Adélaîde Barbier); Le Soleil a toujours raison (Billon) (as Micheline)

1942

La Comédie du bonheur (L'Herbier) (as Lydia); La Nuit fantastique (Fantastic Night) (L'Herbier) (as Irène); Félicie Nanteuil (Histoire comique) (Marc Allégret) (title role); La Belle Aventure (Twilight) (Marc Allégret) (as FrançoisePinbrache)

1943

Un Seul Amour (Blanchar) (as Clara Biondi)

1944

Falbalas (Paris Frills) (Becker) (as Micheline Lafaurie)

1945

Boule de suif (Angel and Sinner) (Christian-Jaque) (as Elisa-beth Rousset)

1946

Le Diable au corps (Devil in the Flesh) (Autant-Lara) (as Marthe Graingier)

1947

Les Jeux sont faits (The Chips Are Down) (Delannoy) (as Eve Charlier)

1948

Les Derniers Jours de Pompéi (Sins of Pompeii) (L'Herbier)(as Hélène); Tous les chemins mènent à Rome (Boyer)(as Laura)

1950

Under My Skin (La Belle de Paris) (Negulesco) (as Paule Manet); American Guerilla in the Philippines (I Shall Return; Guerillas) (Fritz Lang) (as Jeanne Martinez)

1951

The Adventures of Captain Fabian (New Orleans Adventure)(William Marshall) (as Léa Mariotte)

1952

La Dame aux camélias (Bernard) (as Marguerite Gautier)

1953

L'Amour d'une femme (Grémillon) (as Marie Prieur); Si Versailles m'était conté (Affairs in Versailles; Royal Affairs in Versailles) (Guitry) (as Madame de Pompadour); Villa Borghese (Les Amants de villa Borghese; It Happened in the Park) (Franciolini)

1954

Casa Ricordi (House of Ricordi; La Maison du souvenir)(Gallone) (as Virginia Marchi); Les Impures (Chevalier)(as Michèle); Napoléon (Guitry) (as Hortense de Beauharnais)

1955

Treize à table (Hunebelle) (as Madeleine Villardier)

1956

Beatrice Cenci (Le Château des amants maudits) (Freda) (as Lucrezia Cenci); La Mariée est trop belle (The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful) (Gaspard-Huit) (as Judith)

1957

Les Louves (Demoniaque; The She Wolves) (Saslavsky) (as Hélène); Les Femmes sont marrantes (Hunebelle) (as Nicole)

1958

Christine (Gaspard-Huit) (as Lena Eggersdorf); Bobosse (Périer)(as Régine) (Surin)

1959

Blind Date (Chance Meeting; L'Enquête de l'inspecteur Morgan) (Losey) (as Jacqueline Cousteau); Une Fille pour l'été(A Mistress for the Summer) (Molinaro) (as Paule); Le Baron de l'Ecluse (Delannoy) (as Perle); Herrin der Welt(Mistress of the World) (Dieterle) (as Mme. Latour)

1960

L'Amant de cinq jours (The Five Day Lover; Infidelity) (de Broca) (as Madeleine)

1961

Les Grandes Personnes (Time Out for Love) (Valère) (as Michèle); L'Assassino (The Lady Killer of Rome; The Assassin) (Petri) (as Adalgisa de Matteis); I briganti italiani(Les Guerrilleros) (Camerini) (as La Marquise)

1962

"La Luxure" ("Lust") ep. of Les Sept Péchés capitaux (The Seven Capital Sins) (Demy) (as Mother); La Loi des hommes(Gérard) (as Sophie Olivier); If a Man Answers (Un Mari en laisse) (Levin) (as Germaine Stacey); Le Diable et les dix commandements (The Devil and the Ten Commandments) (Duvivier) (as Micheline); Venere imperiale (Vénus impériale; Imperial Venus) (Delannoy) (as Josephine de Beauharnais)

1963

Coup de bambou (Boyer) (as Angèle Brissac); The Prize(Robson) (as Denise Marceau)

1964

Dark Purpose (L'Intrigue) (George Marshall) (as Monique);La Chasse à l'homme (The Gentle Art of Seduction; Male Hunt) (Molinaro) (as Isabelle Heurtin); Les Pieds nickelés(Chambon) (as Lady Van der Mèche)

1965

Je vous salue, mafia (Hail, Mafia) (Lévy) (as Daisy); La Religieuse (The Nun) (Rivette) (as Mme. de Moni)

1966

Le Roi de coeur (King of Hearts) (de Broca) (as Mme.Eglantine)

1969

La Bal du Comte d'Orgel (Marc Allégret) (as Mme. deSéryeuse); Le Clair de terre (Gilles) (as L'Antiquare)

1970

Peau d'âne (The Magic Donkey; Donkey Skin) (Demy) (as La Deuxième Reine [Red Queen])

1971

Les Pétroleuses (The Legend of Frenchie King) (Christian-Jaque) (as Tante Amélie); Il Diavolo nel Cervello (Sollima)(as La comtesse Claudia)

1973

L'Oiseau rare (Brialy); L'Evénement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune (A Slightly Pregnant Man) (Demy) (as Dr. Delavigne); Le Boucher, la star, et l'orpheline (Savary) (as Belladonna); La Gueule de l'emploi(Rouland) (as herself)

1974

Deux grandes filles dans un pyjama (Girault) (as Laurence);La preda (Paolella) (as Bessie Lester); Trompe-l'oeil(D'Anna) (as Laure Deschanel)

1975

Mords pas, on t'aime (La Fête des pères) (Yves Allégret)

1976

Nea (Nea: A New Woman) (Kaplan) (as Helen Ashby); Le Diable dans la boîte (Lary) (as Mme. Aubert); Certaines nouvelles (Davila) (as Hélène)

1977

Va voir maman, papa travaille (Your Turn, My Turn) (Leterrier)(as Vava)

1978

On efface tout (Vidal) (as Mme. Coeurdevey); Démons de midi (La couleur de temps) (Paureilhe) (as Rose); S'il vous plaît . . . la mer? (Lancelot) (as mother); Je te tiens, tu me tiens par la barbichette (Yanne) (as La femme d'argent)

1979

Rien ne va plus (Ribes) (as Carmen); Tout dépend des filles(Fabre) (as Betty)

1981

Remueménage (Davila) (as mother)

1983

Archipel des amours (Treilhou); En haut des marches(Vecchiali); Lili Lamont (Logereau); Thieves After Dark(Voleurs de la nuit) (Fuller) (as Genevieve); Le Sang des autres (The Blood of Others) (Chabrol) (as Denise)

1984

Le Chien (Gallotte); Les Fausses confidences (Marivaux) (as Mme. Argante)

1986

Beau temps, mais orageux en fin de journée (Frot-Coutaz) (as Jacqueline)

1988

Alouette, je te plumerai (Zucca) (as lady with jewels)

1989

Je veux rentrer à la maison (I Want to Go Home) (Resnais) (as Isabelle Gauthier); La Fête des pères (Fleury) (as Mireille)

1990

Après après-demain (Frot-Coutaz) (as the neighbor)

1991

Der Andere Blick (The Other Eye) (Heer and Schmiedel)

1993

Je m'appelle Victor (My Name Is Victor) (Jacques) (as Luce);Fanfan (Fanfan & Alexandre) (Jardin) (as Maude)

1994

Pas tres Catholique (Something Fishy) (Tonie Marshall) (as Mme. Loussine); Casque Bleu (Blue Helmet) (Jugnot)(as Gisele)

1995

Le Journal du Seducteur (Seducer's Diary) (Du Broux) (as Diane); Les Misérables (Lelouche) (as Mother Superior)

1996

Les Mille et une recettes du cuisinier amoureux (A Chef in Love/A Cook in Love) (Dzhordzadze) (as Marcelle Ichak);Fallait pas! (Jugnot); Le Journal du séducteur (Diary ofa Seducer) (Dubroux) (as Diane); Enfants de salaud (Bastard Brood) (as Mère de sophie)

1997

Cannes . . . les 400 coups (Nadeau—for TV) (as herself)

1998

Grève party (Grève party); Le Comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo) (Dayan—mini for TV) (as Madame de Saint-Méran)

1999

Vénus beauté (Venus Beauty Salon) (Marshall) (Tante Maryse);Le Voyage à Paris (Dufresne); Mauvaises fréquentations(Améris); Le Coeur à l'ouvrage (Dussaux) (as Madeleine)

Publications

By PRESLE: book—

L'Arriere Mémoire, 1994.

By PRESLE: articles—

Interview in Cinématographe (Paris), May 1982.

Interview in Film Français (Paris), 31 August 1984.

Interview with Raymond Chirat, in La IVe République et ses films, Paris 1985.

Interview with F. Audé and G. Grandmaire, in Positif (Paris), April 1989.

"Le rire de Pabst," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), supplement, May 1991.

Interview in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), April 1992.

Interview in 24 Images (Montreal), Summer 1996.

On PRESLE: articles—

Ciné Revue (Paris), 21 April 1983.

Taboulay, C., "Son rire était formidable," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), April 1992.

Stars (Mariembourg, Belgium), June 1992 and September 1992.

Stars (Mariembourg), June 1992, Autumn 1994.

Taboulay, Camille, "Les jeux de mémoire de Micheline Presle," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), October 1994.

* * *

After training for the stage under Raymond Rouleau, Micheline Presle made her screen debut with Charles Trenet in Je chante. An international career of more than a hundred films has followed with a variety of directors including Marc Allégret, Autant-Lara, Demy, Gance, L'Herbier, Losey, and her husband William Marshall. Her early appearances were in character as a mischievous adolescent, but she quickly graduated to more demanding roles and achieved critical recognition as Jacqueline in Jeunes filles en détresse and for her dual role as mother and daughter in Le Paradis perdu.

During the Occupation she appeared as the desirable young female in lighthearted romantic comedies directed by L'Herbier: La Comédie du bonheur, Histoire de rire, La Nuit fantastique. In the last two she played opposite Fernand Gravey whom she was later to partner in the acclaimed situation comedy Treize à table. Films with Marc Allégret consolidated her reputation; she played Françoise Pinbrache in the comic success La Belle Aventure and starred as the ambitious young actress of Félicie Nanteuil. In the immediate postwar years came more weighty parts, now as the mature, and often sophisticated, woman of the world. Falbalas, in which she was joined by her early mentor Raymond Rouleau, intitiated this transition: here brilliantly rendering the unpredictable Micheline Lafaurie, the inspiration behind a celebrated couturier. Three consecutive tragic roles in literary adaptations followed: she played the exploited and shunned prostitute of Maupassant's Boule de suif, was Eve Charlier in Sartre's Les Jeux sont faits, and in Radiguet's Le Diable au corps she played Marthe, the unfaithful wife of a serving soldier, in a memorable partnership with Gérard Philipe.

Popular success took Presle to Hollywood where she was teamed with established American stars: with John Garfield in Under My Skin she was a cabaret singer; with Tyrone Power in American Guerilla in the Philippines the seductive Jeanne Martinez; and with Errol Flynn in New Orleans Adventure, directed by her husband William Marshall and filmed in France, she was the irresistible Léa Mariotte. None of these parts extended her acting skills.

As Marguerite Gautier in Dumas's La Dame aux camélias, however, she reaffirmed her French roots, and for Sacha Guitry she appeared in lavish historical costume dramas. If these parts simply confirmed her versatility, more challenging roles as a professional woman came in the 1950s and 1960s, reflecting social changes of the period. After her engaging portrayal of a dedicated young doctor facing the sexual prejudices of a small community in L'Amour d'une femme, she was, in lighter vein, the director of a woman's magazine in La Mariée est trop belle, a successful businesswoman in Les Grandes Personnes, a busy reporter in La Loi des hommes, and a psychologist in Mords pas, on t'aime. Her comic gifts have also seen her cast as the socially outrageous or endearingly scatterbrained character. More sinister roles have included the sleazy cabaret singer in Les Impures, the atrocious Hélène of Les Louves, the alcoholic Bessie Lester of La Préda, and for Losey the deceptively genteel Jacqueline Cousteau of Blind Date.

With age Presle has been increasingly cast as the mother, good or bad, rather than the wife, faithful or unfaithful. There have been memorable performances as Laure Deschanel, the possessive mother of Trompe-l'oeil, or as Helen Ashby, the lesbian mother of Néa, or as the clinically depressive mother of Beau temps, mais orageux en fin de journée, while in Resnais's I Want to Go Home she gave a delightfully measured performance as the cultured Mme. Gauthier.

Presle's links with the theater have remained strong and she has often excelled in screen versions of plays, as, for example, in the role of Mme. Argante in Marivaux's Les Fausses confidences. In more than one film she has played the performer, either as cabaret singer or as actress. Her work for television has also met with acclaim, particularly as the star of the long-running series Les Saintes Chéries.

As an actress who enjoys her work immensely, Presle has responded readily to a variety of roles for the stage, the cinema, and television. Her range is impressive, extending from early comic and romantic parts through roles in thrillers, costume pieces, and social dramas, into darker, more tragic character studies. Her talents have been in demand by French, English, American, and Italian directors alike, and in her long career she has worked with the most famous names of the cinema and those who have quickly faded. Vitality, versatility, and an enduring commitment to her profession have ensured Presle a permanent place in the annals of the cinema.

—R. F. Cousins